Institution: International
Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT)

Biosummary:

Padmaja R Kamtam is currently working for
the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics as a Scientific
Officer in the Socioeconomics and Policy Program of the institute. Her job
responsibilities include Poverty and Gender Analysis in research technology design and
diffusion for the semi-arid tropics, assisting in writing research project proposals for
complementary funding, survey questionnaire designing, primary and secondary level data
collection, conducting PRAs and RRAs, consistency check and validation of data, data
analysis (using statistical packages), report writing, graphic representations,
preparation of presentations and documentation of the results. She is also actively
involved in computerisation of the databases of the program onto a Graphical User
Interface.

She holds a masters degree from the Andhra
Pradesh Agricultural University, Hyderabad, India with specialization in Human Development
and Family Studies. Awarded 'College of Home-Science Gold Medal' by
Andhra Pradesh Agricultural University for scoring highest Overall Grade Point Average
(OGPA) in the M.Sc Program.

The semi-arid tropics (SAT) are home to 380
millions of the worlds poor. ICRISAT, since its inception, has therefore had a
primary focus on putting in place mechanisms, which would strengthen the linkages between
agricultural research and poverty alleviation. The political economy as well as the
agro-ecological conditions of the SAT region are considered in the development of the
research agenda of ICRISAT. Pioneering village level studies and research on
distributional effects, risk, gender dimensions, nutrition, and employment were carried
out which fed into the research process for agricultural innovations. Poverty alleviation
or changes in welfare are shown to be influenced by adoption of agricultural innovation
and also by other factors including socio-economic conditions, policy environment, and
infrastructure facilities. Since most of SAT is ecologically fragile, the linkage between
resource degradation and poverty is given prime emphasis. Of equal importance is research
carried out on developing improved varieties of ICRISAT's mandate crops which
significantly enhanced crop yields and quality. Unlike the green revolution which was not
scale-neutral, and which increased farmer dependence on a variety of rural and urban
institutions, ICRISAT focussed on open pollinated varieties, which significantly empowered
them. The paper presents methodologies developed at ICRISAT, which help to assess and
enhance research-poverty alleviation linkages. The paper illustrates studies carried out
to show positive impact particularly on the livelihood of the poor.